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Hiram Blackman (1804-1895)
}} * Zion's Camp Veteran * LDS 1st Quorum of Seventy Biography Very little is known of Hiram Blackman. His name appears only once in the History of the Church, when he was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy. It appears on the list of Zion Camp participants as "Hiram Backman". Hiram Blackman was born June 15, 1804 in Columbus, Chenago Couty, New York to Josiah Blackman and Tryphena Smith. By 1824 he seems to have settled in Ohio, and there married Clarissa Darrow on November 1824. Conversion to Mormonism The third child (born 1828) is named for prominent Ohio Mormon leader Newel Kimball Whitney (1795-1850), the family may have been part of the Sidney Rigdons, Campbellite group there. Before the arrival of Joseph Smith and the Mormons in late 1830. The couple gave birth to seven children, numbers two through five being born in Erie County, Ohio, between 1828 and 1838, which obviously was the couple's home at the time. It will also be remembered that the Church had settled at Kirtland Ohio in nearby Lake County starting with the Prophet's arrival there in 1831. He had accepted the gospel by 1834 when he volunteered to join Zions Camp and was ordained to the LDS Church Quorum of Seventy the following year. Zions Camp Participant One of the most interesting episodes in the early history of LDS Church was the march of Zion's Camp (1834). The members of the Church in Missouri were being persecuted, and the Prophet Joseph made it a matter of prayer and received a revelation on February 24, 1834. The Lord instructed the Prophet to assemble at least one hundred young and middle-aged men and to go to the land of Zion, or Missouri. (See D&C 130:19–34.) Zion’s Camp, a group of approximately one hundred and fifty men, gathered at Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1834 and marched to Jackson County, Missouri. By the time they reached Missouri, the camp had increased to approximately two hundred men. LDS Quorum of Seventy Created by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in early 1835, the Quorum of Seventy was to act as traveling and presiding ministers for the newly created The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these men performed notable works for the early church, living near then church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. The Quorum of Seventy itself did not meet as a governing body of the church and was not renewed until reorganized by the church in 1976. Nauvoo Period By 1841, the family had relocated to Nauvoo, Illinois where his last two children were born. There is no indication that the Hiram Blackman family ever settled in Missouri, thus they might have escaped the horrible persecutions of that time. Later, as the First Quorum was disbanded, Hiram was called as the Seventh (Senior) President of the Twentieth Quorum in 1845, that quorum being organized at Morley's Settlement, Hancock County, Illinois. At this point Hiram disappears from the annals of Church history. The aforementioned web site gives his death as February 5, 1895 at LaPorte County, Indiana. Since his wife and some of his children also died there, we assume the family had settled there. We do not know why the Blackmans did not join the saints on the trek west. We do note, however, that numerous folks have submitted his name for temple work. Marriage and Family By 1824 he seems to have settled in Ohio, and there married Clarissa Darrow on November 1824. The couple gave birth to seven children, numbers two through five being born in Erie County, Ohio, between 1828 and 1838, which obviously was the couple's home at the time. References * Elder Hiram Blackman - Grandpa Bill's GA Pages __SHOWFACTBOX__ Category: LDS Quorum of Seventy